newsom up to the podium. >> thank you, darlene and vice minister. an honor to see you again. we had the opportunity yesterday in sacramento to visit. thank you for your stewardship and strong support of our efforts here not only in san francisco, but across the state. and to mayor lee, thank you for example, your leadership, your stewardship, and her strong support and wisdom of identifying a great leader of china sf and darlene chu, carrying the torch for the board of directors. there are a number of you assembled here and you have done an extraordinary job to demonstrate our commitment not just rhetorically but substantively in terms of engaging in defiance -- advancing our collective efforts to focus on trade and exports. to the entire team that have been at the helm for decades now, here in san francisco supporting our efforts to reach

out to china on behalf of them, dianne feinstein who established our sister city our protocol chief, i am honored to be here. a 12 take a brief moment to say a few things on behalf of the state of california. like san francisco, california has always been a state of dreamers, and doors, and entrepreneurs. a state head -- that has prided itself of being on the leading and cutting edge of new ideas. we're one of the most diversity's, san francisco is the largest per-capita chinese population of many in the united states in the most diverse state in the world's most averse democracy. the delegation will appreciate this as you walk the streets of san francisco at our best as it is across the state. people are living and a dancing together across every

conceivable and imaginable difference. i have believed the world looks to us to say it is -- if it is possible to live together across every conceivable difference. we're proud of our home and place in history and proud of our example. but we also are humble in the context of the world we're living in. a world that is another connected but hyper-connected with a merger of i.t. and globalization. we recognize our faith -- fate is connected to the fate of others. that is the spirit that binds us together. the spirit that brings us here today. i want to close by reminding you that california is the birthplace as mayor lee was saying of life science, biotech, the home of the california stem cell institute, a state with more engineers, more scientists, more global -- nobel laureate's

than any other state or we still lay claim to five of the top universities based on the shanghai index in the world. caltech, stanford university, and three of our public universities, not least of which the university is a stone's throw away. uc-berkeley campus. we're proud of the state but we also recognize we have challenges and we need to lean into the world we're living in. this today is an example of leading in and i am grateful to all of you for your participation. and vice minister, we are honored to have you out here in our state in this wonderful city and we look forward to many visits over many years. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, lieutenant governor. of course, the best for last. the hon. vice minister of commerce to the podium, please.

[applause] >> lt. governor newsom, mayor lee, counsel general, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. it is a great pleasure for me to be here to attend this seminar, " organized -- let me give a special thanks to the previous speakers who gave very warm and remarkable remarks. i would like to give special thanks to the state government of california and the municipal government of san francisco. i think without your help, this forum for the seminar will not be realized.

i also believe that through the seminar, with both sides, which will enhance our cooperation between our two sides. for many years, national corp. always is a dynamic factor -- cooperation is always a dynamic factor. and the economic and trade relations is also under way because of this dynamic factor. we believe that through all the -- this is becoming more important. china and the chinese government attaches great importance to national corp. and to state corporation and city corp. -- cooperation between the two

countries. this time, i am leading a delegation consisting of 100 people. my main purpose or one of my main purposes is to promote the financial, economic and trade relations at the national level. we hope our visit or my visit this time will promote the cooperation between the industry -- ministry of commerce, the state and government of california, and the municipal government of san francisco. this time, the delegation at lead -- i lead, the people are from different places in china. they come from the ministry of commerce, from the local government, from different provinces, they come from the chamber of commerce, and the different companies in china. we hope that through this visit,

we can strengthen our corp., thus facilitating cooperation, the exchanges between the governments and the companies between the two sides. as the largest economy in the u.s., california boasts the resources and a strong advantage in high tech, bio-science, agriculture, fisheries, and the forestry, and even tourism. and in terms of cooperation with china, california enjoys exceptional economic, cultural, and geographical locations and advantages. it is always is the gateway of the united states to china. as the economic and trade

cooperation between china and the united states and california deepens, now we believe that trade and investment keeps growing. china is the third largest export destination for california. many multinationals like hp, intel, cisco, and chevron are doing well in china. they're making money in china. at the same time, as the close relationship is going on, many chinese companies are working in san francisco in california. i would like to name a few. the tsl, ciuts, just to name a few. these are successful chinese companies working here. as the american companies in

china, the chinese companies working in california in san francisco are also making contributions to job creation and the development of the economy in local areas. we're thinking these are very good signs. as the previous speakers mentioned, we paid a visit to the united states last february. governor brown proposed that we set up a working group for the u.s., a state, and china provinces to cooperate. we call this a working group, a joint working group of provinces and the states. at that time, the vice president made a very good, very positive

response for the proposal. after the vice-president returned to china, we worked very hard on the proposal and my visit this time is to further the proposal. to make further follow-up of the proposal. yesterday morning, the delegation was in sacramento so we had a very good and successful and fruitful discussion with the lieutenant governor newsome and secretary ross. we believe when the working group is set up, it will tap the cooperative potential between our two sides while in many areas such as infrastructure, new energy, biomedicine, electronics,

information industry, agriculture, and high and manufacturing. mayor lee echoed positive statements to our proposal before we came to this seminar. we had a very good meeting with mayor lee. he and san francisco will give us positive and strong support. i would like to say thanks to mayor lee. we also -- always believed san francisco is an important port and trade and cultural center in the western part of the united states. it has a long history of business and cultural exchange with china. as i come to san francisco this

time, i have some new feelings. i have been to san francisco many times but no time like this time that makes me more convinced that both sides share a stronger desire for corp. and no time like this time that i sense -- for cooperation. there are nmany opportunities in front of us, especially in the field of infrastructure. as i said this time, i have a delegation of 100 people coming from 40 companies. many of them in fact specialize in infrastructure field.

the closely followed -- they have been closely following the projects in city developments, in airports and seaports renovations, and real-estate, and high-speed railways. some have already had the experience in engineering design, construction, and management in the united states. so i hope that you will have candid discussions on infrastructure and many other fields and keep a close touch and eventually come to corp. -- cooperation on a win-win basis. ladies and gentleman, friends, we believe bilateral relations matter greatly to the economic and trade relations.

leaders have reached consensus on building a cooperative partnership based on mutual research and that if it for the 21st century -- and benefit for the 21st century. guided by the consensus, china and u.s. relations are now moving ahead on a healthy track. which we think will help a healthy development of the bilateral economic [inaudible] there are a number of figures that can show that benefit we have from our corporation. last year in 2011, our total trade volume reached $447 billion. for the first half of this

year, we recorded trade volume of $231 billion u.s., an increase of 12%. china is of the first largest and growing market. china is the no. 1 market for agriculture for u.s. agricultural products like soybeans and cotton. soybeans are 60% of -- is sold to china. one-third of u.s. cotton is sold to china. china is also an important market for u.s. automobiles and aircraft. china also is in long-term market for u.s. service industry. in this area, the u.s. has done

a long time service. at the same time, the chinese want to prepare -- entrepreneurs are interested in making investments in the united states so there are more and more chinese companies coming to the united states and investments. according to chinese statistics, for the last 18 months, the chinese investment in the united states grew by 18-40% -- by 14%. it is up to $6 billion. the investment is still a small figure. it is growing very fast. today, our common interests have expanded and interdependence has been deepened.

now, as the impact of the financial crisis still lingers, both china and the united states have committed to transforming their economic growth. their economic growth models by increasing input in some new areas like new energy, high- tech, high end manufacturing, i.t., bioscience, etc. these could translate into new corporation -- cooperation opportunities. the u.s. as you know is implementing its export initiatives and select u.s. programs while the chinese government is implementing its

plan. one of the main contents of the plan is to expand tschida's domestic demand -- tschida's domestic demand. so for the next five years, -- china's domestic demand. we will import 10 trillion dollars of food from abroad including those from the united states. also, china is now working very hard on a global strategy. we encourage the chinese companies to work, to invest in foreign countries, including the united states. with this drive going on, i believe more and more chinese companies will come to invest in the united states. if we embrace all these efforts together, i am sure the result will benefit both countries on both sides.

history and the facts have proven that china and the u.s. or sino-u.s. corp. is no zero sum game. rather, it is always win win and win win always prevails. as the two countries are at development level, the two countries have a divergent history and political system, it is natural and normal that we can encounter some difficulties in disagreement and frictions during the course of our cooperation. that we should make a greater endeavour to expand our common interests and to properly deal with these differences. the chinese government will

make rigorous efforts to create a more leveling -- a more level playing ground for investors in china. we will step up our ipr protection and further open up our market. at the same time, we also strongly urge the u.s. side to loosen its export controls to china and also urged the u.s. government to treat the chinese enterprises working in the united states in a fair manner. i think as long as we were close together -- work close together, we will find more and more opportunities and we will find

more and more when-when results. -- win-win results. i hope that the seminar could be a catalyst to boosting cooperation between china and california and san francisco. and help bring more tangible benefits to the economy and the people of both countries of both sides. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, vice minister. now we will proceed with the signing ceremony. that will be emceed by [unintelligible] >> [speaking foreign language]

good morning, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. i am from the investment promotion agency. it is my honor to be the emcee of the signing ceremony today. matt have the honor of inviting the distinguished leaders -- may i have the honor of inviting the distinguished leaders to the podium for the signing ceremony? [speaking foreign language] let's invite the hon. avenue sen -- gavin newsom, honorable edwin lee, the hon. minister of

the deputy of commerce, the consulate general of china in san francisco, the minister of the embassy of china in the u.s. [speaking foreign language] and the tenant governor newsome is mcclaren's -- lt. gov. newsom is joining us. [speaking foreign language]

for the first year, the investment promotion energy and china sf to sign a memorandum of understanding. they are recycling the purchase contract. congratulations. [applause] [speaking foreign language]

let's invite both to sign the letter of tintend for soybean purchase -- intent for soybean purchase. congratulations and thank you. [applause] [speaking foreign language] let's invite the china chamber

of commerce and paramount. and blue diamond. the china chamber of commerce and blue diamond growers to sign the project on imports of all men's -- almonds. thank you. congratulations. [speaking foreign language] ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of the signing ceremony. congratulations to the organizations and companies and thanks to the distinguished leaders witnessing the ceremony. thank you very much.